A moody retrospective look into the rocky road
bridging belief, talent and career spanning a segment
of the life of Muhammad Ali.

A fifteen minute Sam Cooke Medley sets the mood
over images of chatter and a silent Ali ... warming
the egg, which bursts open into the Ali-Liston fight
like the flood gates of Cassius Clay's mouth. He's
Luke Skywalker ready to go into battle, and he's not
afraid to let the world know, "If you even dream of
hitting me, you better wake up and apologize." The
picture follows Ali's life up until the rumble in the
jungle Foreman fight, "I'm going to hit him so many
times, he'll think he's surrounded."

"Ali" saves the butterfly wing-speed for the ring,
while kicking back into three or four virtual music
videos, image/music collages. Though these
mood-moments work nicely, they could use some
trimming. In contrast, Ali takes to the ring three or
four times bringing the viewer in with him. The close
(sometimes jerky) camera work will have you ducking
Foreman's punches, but at the cost of causing a few
headaches. In between matches and tunes, Ali takes on
the biggest fight of his life: Ali vs. the US
government.

An adamant Moslem and friend of Malcolm X, Ali
takes punches from all angles when he refuses to
honor the draft, "Ain't no Viet Cong never called me
nigger. ... I ain't draft dodging, flag burning or
running to Canada - put me in jail ... I've been in
jail for four hundred years!" Smith as Ali delivers
many more zingers, strong statements packing just as
much punch as his fists.

Okay, let's talk about Smith. I'm a big fan,
"Fresh Prince," "Independence Day," he's got some
range. But, as Ali? At best, Smith doesn't get in the
way of the words and powerful life of Ali. At worst,
you might want him to be a tad larger with a little
more rasp in that voice.

Perhaps I'm bias. A couple of years back, I
enjoyed a one man show on the life and times of Ali
presented by an amazingly talented man -- Geoffrey
Ewing. I wanted him to be Ali. (Ewing is likely still
performing someplace, check the web.) As for John
Voight, despite some less than impressive make up
work, he finds the heart of Howard Cosell.

Besides presenting a perspective of Ali younger
viewers will no doubt find eye-opening and
impressive, I believe this to be a rather
inspirational picture. As Einstein once said, "You
think your homework is hard, you should see mine." (I
paraphrase). Similarly, Ali's unabashed determination
and belief in himself through extremely trying times
... this is what really makes him "The Greatest."